disfidare

Forms

disfidare (first-person singular present disfìdo, first-person singular past historic disfidài, past participle disfidàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin disfīdāre (“to withdraw one's faith; to challenge”), a parasynthetic formation of the prefix dis- on the word for faith or trust.^[2][3][4][1] Nocentini explains that in feudal society the Medieval Latin verb meant breaking one's pledged faith, hence withdrawing trust and then challenging; he derives it from *fīdāre (“to put one's trust”) (Italian fidare).^[5] Wiktionary links it to Latin fīdō (“to trust”), and DELI to fidēs (“faith, trust”).^[1][2]

The same formation gave French défier and Spanish desafiar, and also Old Occitan desfizar and Portuguese desafiar.^[5][6] The shorter sfidare comes from it by loss of the first syllable.^[5]

That Latin verb is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeydʰ- (“to trust”), the root of Ancient Greek πείθομαι (peíthomai, “to be convinced, obey”).^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Giacomo da Lentini, 1230–1250, as a reflexive meaning to lose confidence in something.^[8][4] The sense “to challenge” is recorded in the 13th century in Malispini, who has a ruler declare a rival a traitor and challenge him.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian it meant both distrusting and challenging: to provoke someone to battle, to challenge to a mortal duel (disfidare a morte), and to give notice of going to war.^[8][9] Giovanni Villani tells how the king gli disfidò … a morte (“challenged them to the death”).^[9] Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata has a warrior who disfida the boldest of the Franks to a duel.^[10]

The old verb also meant to declare an enemy or to banish.^[11][12] Another old use was giving up a sick person as hopeless.^[13][3] The noun disfida dates from before 1536.^[2] Today the verb is literary, and the shorter sfidare is the common word.^[3][14][5]

Timeline

• 1230–1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses disfidarsi for losing confidence.^[8]
• 13th century – Malispini uses the verb for challenging an enemy.^[2]
• Before 1536 – The noun disfida is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, literary) To challenge someone to a duel, a battle or a contest.^[3][14][13]
2. (transitive, obsolete) To consider a sick person beyond hope.^[3][13]
3. (intransitive, obsolete) To distrust someone.^[3][14][13]
4. (transitive, obsolete) To declare someone an enemy.^[11][12]

Word family

• disfida
• sfidare
• disfidante
• disfidatore

Related words

• fidare
• diffidare
• sfida
• French défier

Usage notes

DEI and Zingarelli list the sense “to distrust” under a separate heading, as a variant of diffidare.^[15][11] DEI explains that use from Vulgar Latin *disfīdāre that replaced classical Latin diffīdō.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1336